Tag Archives: vegetarian

I recently went to a cookout where some of the folks were vegetarian. I’ve been playing with meat substitutes for a while, so I volunteered for veggie burgers.

Looks almost good enough to eat :)

A difference between this and most recipes is that many meat substitutes use beans as a main protein. But I’m a fan of eggplant, so I chose to use this instead. It’s not a common approach, but it worked remarkable well.

Cooking’s often like life. The highs are high and moments of regret can have a sour taste. But sometimes these can be turned around. Take, for instance, the regret of getting a dozen ears of corn because they were on sale. So what if I spent less than if I’d bought six? There’s still a boat load of starchy kernels slowly decaying on the counter.

Worth Repeating

This means it’s time for a repeat post on vegetables and salad dressing. Billed as a fancy salad or condiment, veggie vinaigrette’s nothing more than a way to resurrect expiring produce (look in the bottom of your crisper lately?).

Ratatouille is a rustic garden dish. It’s meant to be fast and savory without a lot of flair. Making it fancy is putting lipstick on a pig. Anyone who says different’s a poseur. [So there!]

The following is a basic recipe. It can be spiced up by adding bell pepper and garlic or a hot pepper. But remember, overcomplicating this recipe will destroy it. It will look prettier but taste worse.

Just the thing when you’re in need of a Norman Rockwell moment, tomato soup can be on the table in less than an hour. The basic ingredients are simple and can be used to make a straight up soup (you’ll want to seed and process the tomatoes to get that Campbells soup effect). The additional vegetables and spice aren’t much extra work and they bring out a pronounced set of distinct flavors.

a great winter meal

As for the tomatoes, there’s little difference between store-bought and canned. If you want, you can substitute two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes or tomato puree. The advantage of this is that you won’t have to deal with the peeling and mashing. I use fresh because it’s fun (I like to play with my food ).

For most large gatherings and holidays vegetarians have to suck it up – they’re lucky if there are enough sides at a meal to put three colors on a plate. This dish adds variety to the meal and doubles as a main course for vegetarians or a side for meatetarians.

great as a main course or side dish

If you’re cooking for vegans, you can substitute vegetable stock and olive oil for butter and cream in the mashed potatoes.